Malting

Malting converts barley into maltfor use in brewing. Dried grainsare steeped in water and encouraged to germinate before being kiln-dried to the desired colour and specification, from very pale through to crystal and amber, to chocolate or black malts.

Milling

Milling cracks the malted grains, allowing water to penetrate and be absorbed during the mashing process in order to extract sugars from the malt.

Water

Beer is largely composed of water. Regional water supplies have varying mineral constituents and differ in suitability for brewing various beer styles. The water found at Burton-upon-Trent is famous for it's suitability to brewing pale ales, to such a degree that brewers will add gypsum to their local water in a process known as Burtonisation.

Mashing

The milled grain and water are mixed and heated in a "mash tun", an insulated brewing vessel with a false bottom, allowing the enzymes in the malt to break down the insoluble starch in the grain into soluble sugars, to create a malty liquid called "wort".

Boiling

The wort is moved into a large tank ("copper" or "kettle") where it is boiled with hops and, sometimes, herbs or sugars. Chemical reactions take place which determine much about the flavour, colour and aroma of the beer. Hops are added for flavour, aroma and bitterness and, at the end of the boil, the hopped wort settles to clarify in a "whirlpool" vessel, where the solid particles in the wort are separated out.

Cooling

Before yeast is added, the wort must be brought down to a fermentation temperature of between 20°-26° Celsius. Most breweries use a plate heat exchanger with cold water running in adjacent pipes to the wort. Rapid cooling prevents oxidization and contamination.

Fermentation

After the wort is cooled and aerated, yeast is added and it begins to ferment. During this stage, sugars from the malt metabolize into alcohol and carbon dioxide, and the product can be called beer for the first time. Fermentation tanks come various shapes, forms and materials from large stainless steels cylindro-conical vessels, through to open stone vessels and traditional wooden vats.

Conditioning

After initial or primary fermentation, the beer is usually transferred into a second container so that it's no longer exposed to the dead yeast and other debris that will have settled to the bottom of the primary fermenter. The beer is "conditioned" (matured or aged) in one of several ways - such as Kräusening or Lagering - which can take from a few weeks or months to several years.

Tapping

The beer can now be transferred to kegs or bottles. For some beer styles, brewers also create secondary fermentation and maturation in the bottle. Brown or green glass bottles are used to protect the beers from becoming "light struck" (undesirable skunk-like flavours).